Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Test Track to be built in California by 2019

Elon Musk has been pushing and selling his Hyperloop Transportations Technologies harder than he has even been pushing or selling Tesla Motors and their industry-changing designs. The fruits of his labor might finally be paying off, as the company announced that they had struck a deal with landowners in California to build a 5-mile test track, and would start building the track next year, which will be completed by 2019.

The concept of Hyperloop was first sold in a paper that Musk himself put together back in 2013. In the paper, he detailed how the containers would ultimately move through the air and electrically charged tube. In essence, the movement would happen in a way that would allow the builders to see how the track would function.

However, members of Hyperloop have been unwilling to commit fully to this build as a “test track.” Rather the company has repeatedly pointed out that traveling at the speeds at which Musk had hoped for, would simply not happen under these circumstances. That is because his original plan involved the containers inside of the Hyperloop track traveling as fast as 700mph. When all is said and done though this is a plan that is still, at very best, a number of years out.

Initial reports on what the development would cost, and how long it would take – to create the type of system that Musk has desired for would take years and billions of dollars. However, working to improve the overall climate of travel would be worthwhile to all parties involved – the only roadblock being the individual states and how they would react to such a plan or system.

Hyperloop has been lobbying since the beginning of the year to produce this test track – as they floated a similar concept in Texas, when the California deal seemed lost. At the point, it is entirely conceivable that a test track would exist in both states and could ultimately test differing things – since Musk, and Hyperloop are not afraid of a challenge.